Obtaining Legal MP3s Outside of the U.S.? 623
frankkubiak asks: "I recently bought the new iPod with 40GB. I understand the arguments of the record industry, that I should buy the music I want to hear. Alright. So I don't want to get MP3 files by file-sharing. But here is my problem: I live outside the U.S., in Germany to be exact. iTunes only offers service to those inside the U.S. (see this related Slashdot article). I don't want a CD, vinyl record, tape or minidisc. I simply want to listen to the music. Even if I decide to buy a legacy audio CD, it is often copy-protected and won't load in my PC. So, strictly speaking, it is not even an audio-CD. Heise keeps a database of those un-CDs (German language. English speakers can use this fish-translated page). It sounds incredible, but even after hours of research on the web, I don't see a legal way to use this device with new songs. The only way I see to use this device is to buy a CD, and if I can't rip it, I'll have to [break the law and] download the MP3-file via file-sharing. I believe there are more people like me out there who want to listen to their music, without feeling guilty. Why is there no one meeting this demand? How does Slashdot feel about this?" Before you mention Napster, let's note that it has similar restrictions (see the "International Considerations" section). So where can non-U.S. internet users go to download the legal MP3s that they want?
MP3 (Score:2, Funny)
This may sound stupid but.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:3, Insightful)
One of the very basic parts of morality is following the laws where you live to the best of your ability. So, yes, having different local laws can have a very big affect on morality.
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Give me a break! I offer you three cases, two factual, one fictional, that completely destroy your premise:
1. 1930s-40s Germany. I don't think I really need to elaborate on this one, but here's a hint: Oscar Schindler was breaking the "law." Do you suggest that his behavior was immoral?
3. Rosa Parks was "immoral" because she sat down in the front of the bus, instead of moving to the rear.
2. Orwe
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:5, Informative)
Here in The Netherlands, anything you download as a private person is legal; how about that for fair use? (Putting stuff up to be downloaded is a different game; that's where the dues should be paid (and they make it hard enough))
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:5, Informative)
This is why the law is so stupid.
But believe me, I have downloaded many things I own in one format or another, and feel no guilt.
Ripping services... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:5, Informative)
This came up during the one of the DMCA cases - the court asked about what happens when the protected content enters the public domain if it's illegal to distribute a mechanism to circumvent the protection. Under the current law, even if you have every right to the content, it's apparently illegal to take the necessary steps to get access to it.
This effectively gives the publisher an infinitely long copyright.
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:5, Insightful)
In fact, thanks to the DMCA (thanks Bill Clinton, Fritz Hollings (D-Disney), and others), it became illegal to try and circumvent copy protection.
Yes, some claimed that DMCA infringes on fair use, but the fair use says you are allowed to do something... it doesn't require companies to willingly allow you to do it.
What's worse, of course, is that part of the price of CDs and DVDs is the copy protection. In other words, the people paying the penalty are the ones who buy their content legally, and they are more restricted in it's use. It's really backwards.
I'll go off on a tangent here and compare current copy prevention mechanisms to the software copy prevention mechanisms from the eighties. Who remembers things like "off disk copy protection", or disks that were purposely damaged to as to be uncopyable? Every game like that I bought I immediately went online, found the hex codes to change, and "fixed" the software. I was saavy about it, but most people weren't, and had to put up with looking up codes in manuals or long load times (because of drives choking on bad sectors). There was a backlash, and now you don't see that anymore - what you see are games where companies go way beyond simply providing you with a game to make it valuable to purchase the product legally. They might include a huge manual, maps, minatures, etc.
The music and movie industry amazingly manage to make money despite themselves. Everytime a more versatile format comes out (cassettes, VHS/Beta, CDs, DVDs, mp3s and other various file formats that can be delivered over the internet) the industry whines and complains and goes running to the governemt for protection.
They claimed, for example, VHS would destroy the industry, and then it actually revived it and opened new revenue streams.
Cassette tapes made listening to music more convenient, so people bought MORE MUSIC. Go figure.
CDs brought us amazing quality for very cheap prices, and the industry was worried that cassette copies would be of very high quality. When the discman came out, that became a moot point. Again, people bought MORE music because they were getting better quality with more convenience (skipping tracks, for example, or creating a program as compared to listening to a tape or record) with great quality. People bought MORE music!
DVDs accomplished the same thing for the movie industry. Given a format that doesn't wear out and degrade after many viewings, great quality output, less space than VHS tapes, no rewinding - and now we have things like multi disc players, not to mention the sound options with DVDs (hey, I don't care about Spanish or French, but sometimes I do get portuguese, which is great for me).
Now we have MP3s. Good quality can be had (excellent quality can be had, really), in a solid state form that's easy to store and recall, gives us many hours of music in relatively little space, easy to manage a whole collection of music - it literally takes no extra space in your house. Again we have ability to program from lists of possibly hundreds or thousands of songs. And the industry wants to make it difficult to listen to music the way you want to listen to it. They are not making friends.
I'm not going to be ignorant about the problem of piracy by claiming it's not a problem at all, it's the methods of preventing it I question... the current methods only hurt the honest consumers, not the pirates, and it's the honest consumers that ultimately have to pay for the copy prevention that is keeping them from listening to music or watching movies the way they want to. It's just so stupid. And it IS counter to fair use, but there's no laws requiring content providers to make fair use easy. And now the DMCA makes attempts at fair use illegal.
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:3, Insightful)
It is *not* illegal, not even under the DMCA, to break copy protection for the purpose of making fair use, or for work with expired copyrights. The DMCA only makes breaking protection a crime when it's done with intent to break copyright law, and making fair use isn't breaking copyright law.
The *problem* however is that the DMCA still bars the distribution of *tools* for breaking copy protection, no matter what they're used for. So, yes, you *can* break the pro
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:3, Informative)
Congress explicitely spelled out fair use, and I believe that the wording does not really support the INTENT of fair use provisions.
Your example of a somebody making copies on my behalf is wrong, and misses the point entirely. I'd change it to be something like: "We have BS's new CD and ripped it to mp3s. Some guy in Topeka also purchased it, so it should be OK for him to have a copy
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, that is exactly the law in Canada right now. The guy in Topeka is not allowed to make a copy and give it to me (distribution), but I can borrow the CD and make a copy, or I can copy a copy of his CD (including MP3s). So it's legal for me download.
In fact, it does make (some) logical sense. This law was made to recognize the common act of making mixed tapes/CDs and s
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Would I be breaking any laws for downloading and MP3 of a song I have on vinyl?
If you think about it, vinyl is superior to both the CD and the MP3, so downloading the lossy MP3 should not be a problem.
Comments?
--
Music for the medium (Score:3, Insightful)
Now, I while I can't say that modern music sound
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:3, Informative)
People who say they can hear the difference are primarily speaking about analog music, like classical. I personally have heard the difference between a perfect quality vinyl and a cd in s
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:5, Interesting)
The bogeyman of "infinite resolution" with regard to vinyl is just that; it isn't true, and it really oversimplifies what's going on. "Sampling of discrete values" makes it sound as if you're only getting a summary of the information contained in an original waveform, which isn't true.
Yes, the data on a CD is made up of samples. These *represent* the waveform, but are not *the* waveform. The DA step converts these samples back into the original waveform. There is no continuity "lost" in this process, depending on the frequency response and SNR of the original signal.
For example, say you have an analogue tape that has data of up to 16kHz. By Nyquist, 44.1kHz is more than enough room to encompass *all* of that data, and the 16bits gives (going by memory, so I'm likely wrong on this figure) 96dB of dynamic range; far more, in other words, than vinyl ever had.
I'd really like to find an audiophile someday who'll admit to liking the inherent analogue distortion in records. It's pleasing! Great. It isn't enough to elevate audio *above* science, somehow.
Check out sites like Maple Shade Records [mapleshaderecords.com] for prime voodoo. As the same people who believe that analogue is always inherently superior to digital believe that a glorified hatrack "improves soundstage, makes highs livelier, and sounds like a blanket has been removed from your speakers"...I can't say I have much to do with them.
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, it's true that humans can't 'hear' pure sinewaves at frequencies exceeding about 20KHz, but the mechanisms in the human ear that convert mechanical vibrations into electrochemical responses in the brain and then into conscious sensations or emotions are... well... no
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:5, Informative)
Once again: it isn't a 16-bit interpretation. Sampling does not involve taking "pieces" of music and then throwing them back, hoping it's going by too fast for you to hear. Sampling involves getting a collection of samples that, when converted back into analogue, represents the input waveform (up 'til the threshold your current sampling specification allows) almost exactly.
As for digital recording, 24bit is used precisely because DSP is so popular. 24bit does give you a greater dynamic range (although popular music doesn't tend to use it), but it also removes the amount of dithering you have to do on a signal, as you have many extra bits being used for various digital process computations.
Sampling rate is another story entirely. Nyquist states that 44.1kHz should be adequate, but I understand the idea of leaving room for error; consequently, 96kHz is certainly appropriate. Anything higher than that, though, and studies show you're probably actually degrading the signal.
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Please explain, how are they significantly different? All countries have signed the Berne treaty.
In my (humble) experience, most european have broader definitions of 'fair-use' than the US.
Can you name a European copyright legislation which is stricter? I certainly can't.
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:4, Interesting)
So you should rip your own stuff, and see if "they" care.
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Currently with the Free Trade Agreement negotiated with (or forced on us by) the U.S., australia is set to introduce the "mickey mouse" clause [zdnet.com.au] into copyright and bring the whole place more in line with ill-considered U.S. laws. The Sharman networks raid caught me by surprise, but there has been very little said about it in official political circles. It's an election year here too and Australian political parties aren't really known for their tech-saviness at the best of times. It will be extremely difficult for the current government politically if the FTA isn't accepted.
As far as copyright goes, there's a reason it was sacrificed on the altar of free trade: it's expend- extendable..
Repeat after me: Never Been Tested (Score:3, Insightful)
The fact that it has never been tested must give you some idea of the Australian music and film industries' level of confidence that it would be upheld. As long as they never test it, they can continue to claim that it is illegal to tape shows off the TV, rip CDs to MP3, etc, etc.
Do
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.atomintersoft.com/products/alive-pro
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:3, Insightful)
This doesn't solve the legal problems, I'm afraid.
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:5, Insightful)
No. Don't. I don't care if it is legal in your area, but don't do this. This has two effects: You give money to the record label, and you bump up their 'piracy' rate. Given their unlogic on the issue, that will just make them put DRM on more of their CDs.
It sounds like your best bet is to check with that list before you buy the CD. (And sorry, you'll have to buy the CDs.) If there is a CD on the list that you want, sorry. Send the record label a copy of your question, and tell them it is why you didn't buy the CD.
If this is too much work, or you just can't get enough music to be worth it, sell the iPod (or return it if you can...), and tell Apple why. At that point you are an unsatisfied customer, who will tell others, for something that is not their fault. They may have the influence to fix it, even if you don't.
Just don't hurt yourself. Support those who support you; the labels and artists who let you do what you want. Tell the rest why you don't support them. Maybe they'll listen. After all, it is their profit you're talking about.
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:4, Interesting)
www.allofmp3.com
which is a russian site. high variable bit rate encoding of songs from quite a large catalog for about
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't believe the propensity of people here to equate "copyright infringement" with "stealing," considering they aren't even in the same class of crimes, carry significantly differently penalties, are prosecuted at different levels of the court system, etc...
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Wrong! RIAA already got someone for doing this. (Score:5, Insightful)
Sounds like BS to me. }:)
Re:Wrong! RIAA already got someone for doing this. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Wrong! RIAA already got someone for doing this. (Score:3, Insightful)
less likely? I use my computer as my stereo, and transfer my music from CD to it. To do this I just pop in the CD, it looks up the name for me, and I press one button to encode the albumn.
bitrate... options... all default.
Now if Kazaa has a copy of the exact same song, with the exact same title and the exact same MD5 sum, Is it really that obvious that I must have downl
Re:Wrong! RIAA already got someone for doing this. (Score:5, Informative)
That sounds bogus, if ship ripped MP3's you can't check checksums. MP3 is a lossy format.
Doesn't mean they can't figure out in some manner, not via checksums.
Re:Wrong! RIAA already got someone for doing this. (Score:3, Insightful)
Bullshit. Checksums would never survive compression.
Re:This may sound stupid but.... (Score:3, Insightful)
simple answer: you don't. (Score:5, Insightful)
them's the ropes, and our just desserts for allowing the hegemony of major labels to monopolise music for so long.
Re:simple answer: you don't. (Score:4, Insightful)
This is exactly right. There's no "electronic" fair use in most nations. If you want to listen to this music electronically, return your iPod to the store and find a music player that's WMA compatible. Or, just buy a CD player.
Alternatively, create a business where European consumers can purchase electronic music.
WWJD (Score:5, Funny)
I think he would buy the the cd, rip it with audio hijack, and then load them up onto his iPod.
Re:WWJD (Score:5, Insightful)
He would start his own touring band, and let anyone bootleg it. When the lawyers and businesmen cornered him and asked if people should pay for copywritten music, he would answer "Give unto the laywers what is the lawyers, but live your life for others, for it is not your own but God's". After that the RIAA left outraged because he had not fallen into their trap.
hmm, that started out as a joke
Re:WWJD (Score:5, Funny)
Man, I should get a tshirt with that.
Re:WWJD (Score:5, Funny)
Re:simple answer: you don't. (Score:5, Insightful)
I have been pretty lukewarm about boycotting the RIAA, mainly because prior to the internet, there really wasn't a viable alternative, and there are a lot of good non-mainstream bands that managed to get contracts. Most of the music I listen to falls into this catagory, and I never felt like I should boycott a musician because he took the best opportunity he could get. That, and I don't want to stop listening to all my favorite bands
On the other hand, it has always boggled my mind how eager consumers are to adopt these online music services formats which are more restrictive, lower quality, and have a smaller selection than the existing standard. No thanks, I will stick to CD. I had no idea copy restriction on CD's was getting so bad in some places, but if the day ever comes that I cannot buy music from an artist in a non-drm'd format, then that will be the day I stop listening to them. That's my limit - if they don't want me to listen to their music then I won't.
Is it illegal? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Is it illegal? (Score:5, Informative)
Kinda sucks, really - I guess that 260GBP iRiver I bought is just a nice USB hard-drive with built-in mic and FM tuner, as I certainly can't buy electronic versions of the music I like (ebm, goth, etc). Hell, some of the stuff I like is hard enough to get on CD...
On the plus side, the law is effectively unenforceable - I don't know a single person who doesn't have some sort of audio device, be it cassette, mp3 player, minidisc, or whatever. I suspect that the vast majority of people in the UK have broken this particular law at some point, most likely right now.
On the minus side, that really means that, should they want to investigate you for some reason, that's another line of attack they can take. Remember, they *wanted* Al Capone because he was a gangster. They *got* him for tax evasion...
Paranoia aside, it damages the Law as a whole to have unenforced/unenforceable laws on the books. I don't see it changing any time soon, though - in fact, in light of recent events (the EU "super-DMCA"), I can only see it getting worse.
Re:Is it illegal? (Score:3, Interesting)
That said, transient or otherwise ephemeral copies which are required to actually use the content you're purchased are allowed, so it's arguable that in order to listen to the music on the device of your choice, in this case an iriver, you need to make a transient copy to mp3 in order to actually use the product, and thus are within
Re:Is it illegal? (Score:5, Insightful)
it's actually a clever way to get near police-state powers. simply make something illegal that everyone does, and then selectively enforce it should you want to nail someone, for whatever reason.
Re:Is it illegal? (Score:3, Insightful)
I gave up and ripped my CDs (Score:5, Interesting)
I gave up and resorted to buying CDs, ripping them, then burning them. Most CD ripping software seems to be capable of working around the 'copy protection' on the CDs I have had experiance with. Its horrible because I live in tiny student housing and generally end up leaving the jewel cases and discs at my parents to save space and clutter.
The music industry's grim determination to stop me from listening to music I have paid for has yet to cease amazing me.
Re:I gave up and ripped my CDs (Score:5, Interesting)
From http://neil.eton.ca/copylevy.shtml [neil.eton.ca]:
Re:I gave up and ripped my CDs (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I gave up and ripped my CDs (Score:3, Informative)
Ratboy
Re:I gave up and ripped my CDs (Score:3, Informative)
No, you can't legally download mp3's. In Canada, you can ONLY make a copy of an original, not of a copy. mp3's are copies of the original and therefore its illegal to download them.
Of course its very unlikely you'll get caught, however, it is still illegal.
Re:I gave up and ripped my CDs (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I gave up and ripped my CDs (Score:3, Insightful)
I gave up and resorted to buying CDs, ripping them, then burning them.
Personally, I like having the disks around. If nothing else, they're useful as a zero-effort backup or if I want to switch audio formats. (If space is a consideration, you could invest in a vertical CD rack like I did or, alternately, put the disks and inserts into a binder and throw away the jewel cases.)
I haven't run into many DRM'd CDs that I care about yet so I don't know how that will affect my life. However, CDDA-XTractor
Re:I gave up and ripped my CDs (Score:3, Insightful)
And more importantly I see no ethical standing for stating that downloading someone elses work for free is fine.
And the music industry... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:And the music industry... (Score:5, Insightful)
Why is there no one meeting this demand?
The answer is because RIAA and similar organizations within other countries/regions operate a cartel. This means that in order to more efficiently control the market, among other things, they divide it in regions among themselves, sign or enforce non-compete agreements, enforce trade restrictions, engage in price-fixing, deceptive accounting practices, acquire or eliminate any competition, and purchase favorable laws to gain even more control over their markets. The main objective is to minimize competition through the above means while having the ultimate control over revenues.
Meeting customer demands, coming up with new types of products, delivery methods, competition, and these types of things are not very high on their list. Operating cartels is illegal in many European countries, but nobody cares about it. People only see black and white, just like the U.S. elections.
How does Slashdot feel about this? (Score:3, Funny)
Slashdot has feelings? Next I am expected to give her flowers, say nice things and nibble her ear...
Re:How does Slashdot feel about this? (Score:4, Funny)
Try saying nice things about ears and nibble on the flowers instead.
Situations like this... (Score:4, Insightful)
Can't? (Score:2, Informative)
Did they create a WORKING copy protection scheme yet? i.e. one you can't circumvent by shift key or just by using the CD under Linux???
40GB (Score:2, Funny)
40GB with no access to legal music. Not that's gotta hurt. iPod mini might have been a good start
Record off the radio... (Score:5, Interesting)
Quality (Score:3, Insightful)
Opsound (Score:3, Informative)
Licenced under Creative Commons licence...
Legal Issues (Score:3, Interesting)
Hopefully the precedent setting case would come down on the side of the consumet.
Re:Legal Issues (Score:3, Informative)
I agree wholeheartedly that I should be allowed to rip any CD, cassette, LP, etc that I have bought to whatever format I like, in order to be able to listen to it more conveniently. Eg, I should be legally allowed to convert my entire CD collection to oggs to play on my nice, shiny new iRiver HP-120.
Unfortunately, I live in the UK, where doing so without explicit permission is copyright infringement. Oh sure, no-one is ever going
www.allofmp3.com (Score:5, Informative)
Re:www.allofmp3.com (Score:3, Interesting)
As far as I'm concerned, I already downloaded Robbie Williams' "Escapology". Picked "256kbit
Re:www.allofmp3.com (Score:5, Informative)
This is all my opinion, and based on my own shoddy research, take it with a grain of salt, on the rocks, shaken and mashed...
Re:www.allofmp3.com (Score:3, Interesting)
When you're downloading, you're creating a new copy on the downloader's end. This is a form of reproduction, not distribution (though the uploader making it available is distribution).
Since the reproduction is likely happening within the US, Russian copyright holders don't have authority to permit it.
RIAA may have a difficult time doing anything about this, but that doesn
Good place (Score:3, Informative)
I use the following.... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I use the following.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Interesting thing: I've just spent the last hour tooling around on mp3search.ru. Spent 20 bucks to download a bunch of old stuff that I hadn't heard for years or never heard before.
Guess what? I just realized I have to go out and buy the original CDs for the stuff I downloaded, because I want higher quality.
Why does it take a 'dubious' Russian website to accomplish this?
I think it's safe to say that I have no respect for the RIAA. Nor do I for lazy artists that bitch about their music being 'stolen' after selling their sole to the devil because they had $$ signs in their eyes.
Legal or not, we are at a state of flux and as far as I am concerned, the RIAA can go fuck themselves. When all this is sorted THEN we'll see what's illegal and what's not.
This is the problem (Score:5, Insightful)
Shouldn't you ask the Apple people? (Score:3, Insightful)
You have a device and nothing to fill it with. You ask them for songs and they tell you...what? Encourage you to break the law?
Whats the problem (Score:3, Insightful)
Ok....so nobody is meeting this demand. I have two suggestions. Either try to start such a service that DOES meet those demands, and hopefully profit off it while you get your music fix, or just go ahead and break some laws. How can you feel guilty if they offer you no legal option for getting your music this way? You really have no alternative, so there is no reason to feel guilty, especially after you have decided you want to do things legally, and they have failed to provide you with a way to do so.
Before I get people giving me arguments about things like "well, I wanted them to give me a way to smoke pot legally, but they failed to provide me a way to do so", I would just like to state that this isn't an issue about whether you can use something or not, this is a format issue and a license issue, which is quite different.
Answer don't feel guilty (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't know about germany but in holland it is a legal right to make a copy. Copy protection denies that right so again it is the music industry that is acting against the law.
So why should I feel guilty when I download music?
Asnswer I don't. Poor musicians starving to death? Awh, best artists in history were poor. I am doing art a favor. I didn't see music artist protest when changing technology made miners unemployed or when thousands of factory workers lost their jobs to robots.
For years people have been making suggestions of how the music industry could easily sell its entire catalog without the expense of keeping cd's in stock by burning on demand. They didn't want it. Voting with your wallet is the only thing that works. Any who buy copyrighted cd's and then jump through hoops to get it to work on their player are pawns. You are sending the message that the current business model is fine with you.
Since in holland you pay a tax on dvd's and cassetes anyway that goes to the music industry I see that as my payment. No more wrong then them getting money for my linux install cd's.
Not Exactly a Solution, But... (Score:3, Insightful)
One of my favorite sites is Epitonic.com [epitonic.com]. I've found so many great artists there...
allofmp3.com (Score:3, Informative)
Simple - allofmp3.com [allofmp3.com] - they're located in Russia, where the royalty laws for downloading music work similarly to those for radio airplay in North America. Because of this, they are able to offer a HUGE selection of music without having to hammer out deals with the major labels.
How much does all this cost? How about $0.01 US/megabyte downloaded? What if I told you that the vast majority of their catalogue was available in high quality formats, that you can encode to your file format of choice (including LAME with --alt-presets, or OGG)? Would that sweeten the deal?
Frankly, I don't know why these guys havn't taken off in North America, aside from a lack of publicity. I suppose there is some fear of giving your credit card to a Russian company, but their processor is highly reputable, and they now also accept PayPal.
Here's some reviews and FAQs about their setup and its legitimacy:
http://www.techimo.com/newsapp/i9599.html [techimo.com]
http://www.techimo.com/newsapp/i9599.html [techimo.com]
CD... Baby, ermm. (Score:5, Informative)
Looks like Apple's itunes won't be available in Europe anytime soon [macworld.co.uk] (apparently Napster seems to want to come back in Europe [macworld.com] though).
Some legal sites (some french, sorry) (Score:3, Informative)
ecompil [e-compil.fr] : universal (wma)
a cool label [magnatune.com]
epitonic [epitonic.com] : good independent site (mp3)
This is just a selection from google [google.com]
Weblisten (Score:3, Interesting)
It's in Spain, it's legal and their site is both in English and in Spanish: Weblisten [weblisten.com].
OD2 biggest in europe (Score:4, Informative)
They're primarily a WMP9 shop, but I believe at least some of the resellers use mp3's, which should work on your ipod.
iTunes itself is coming to europe, in theory the first half of this year; but it's anyone's guess as to when they'll actually launch.
Personally speaking, I prefer to still buy CD's, as I get to choose the rip quality (high quality ogg's for my PC, 128vbr mp3 for my flash mp3 player).
I just refuse to buy the corrupt disks, and stick to the smaller labels, especially the indie's. If you do want to import (cheap) CD's, I can personally recommend CDBaby [cdbaby.com] for non-label music, and cd-wow [cd-wow.com] are insanely cheap for more well known artists.
Bleep! (Score:4, Informative)
Studio K7 [k7.com] has some limited offerings in MP3 as well.
I think both sell internationally - Warp is in the UK and K7 is in Germany.
Support non-RIAA music (Score:3, Informative)
Ethics vs. Legality (Score:5, Insightful)
The reality is quite different. Laws are, at best, an attempt to codify and enforce ethics by committee. The committee is usually right, but does, on occasion, make errors. In those cases, there is sometimes no compelling reason to follow the laws. Worse, as in the case of Eastern Europe under Communism, the committee maybe corrupt, in which case, the ethical thing to do is often civil disobedience, and intentionally breaking laws. To me, this feels like one of those cases.
You should strive to follow ethics, not laws. I would argue that there is a compelling ethical argument not to give money to record companies, so they can better buy off governments to pass acts like the DMCA mandating DRM, and destroy your right to write free software capable of interacting with the mainstream world (you cannot, right now, write free legal DVD players, or players for DRMed CDs, even if they have zero uses for copying content). If this is allowed to continue, in short time, GNU/Linux computers will no longer be able to legally access music and video, followed by books and electronic texts, and eventually, mainstream documents. Once this happens, GNU/Linux and free software will have been effectively legally banned from any sort of desktop use (and quite possibly, eventually, server use).
I would sidestep the issue of benefiting personally from illegal action by making sure you do not benefit. Donate the money you would have spent on CDs to either the artists, or organizations like the FSF, the EFF and similar. Make sure you donate at least as much as you have in illegal content. Then, gather the content illegally, and use it as you see fit. I believe this is the second most ethical course of action (the most ethical being that you only boycott all mainstream music, and listen only to independent labels uninvolved in the push for DRM).
Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads (Score:5, Informative)
From the introduction:
In particular, you should be listening to iRATE radio [sourceforge.net]. It downloads and plays those legal MP3s that the artists have on their websites, so you don't have to go hunting for them. If you've already tried out iRATE, note that version 0.3 was just released, so get the update if you don't already have it.Just break the law (Score:5, Insightful)
Since "society" cannot realize this about itself, it often leaves most criminals unpunished. Therefore it is better to be a criminal.
You'll go insane the other way.
There are free legal MP3s on the internet (Score:3, Insightful)
magnatune & epitonic (Score:3, Informative)
The Fitehouse General Public Music License (Score:3, Interesting)
Both tracks are available for free download. Furthermore, The Bomb's first track, Running Scared [fitehouse.com] is released under the new Fitehouse General Public Music License [fitehouse.com], which goes further than the Creative Commons or EFF Open Audio Licenses in that it requires the release of the studio master tracks from which a piece of music is composed: also on The Bomb's download piece are uncompressed WAV files with the raw, unmixed audio of each of the instrumental and vocal parts.
So if you like, you could record yourself singing and mix it with the other tracks from Running Scared.
Borrow a CD and copy it, its legal in Canada (Score:4, Interesting)
Other countries have a similar law in place, you should check it out.
Warp Records (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Why is there no one meeting this demand? (Score:5, Informative)
Audio Luncbox also allows you to have unrestricted mp3 or aac. Enjoy!
Re:Why not just record it (Score:3, Informative)